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SNP cuts ‘causing hospital bed crisis’

Official figures show that the number of available beds for patients has fallen since 2011 from 20,583 to 19,077

SCOTLAND has lost more than 1,500 hospital beds since the SNP won the last election, in cuts which have led to accusations that the party is failing patients.

While Nicola Sturgeon fired the starting gun for the Scottish parliament election this week with a claim that her government has a proud record on the NHS, official figures show that the number of available beds for patients has fallen since 2011 from 20,583 to 19,077.

In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where the number of hospital beds has fallen by almost 500 from 5,302 to 4,805 in the past four years, it has led to one GP warning that the service can no longer meet patient needs.

Dr Margaret McCartney, who obtained the Glasgow statistics using freedom of information legislation, said that in recent months, on an ordinary working day with no seasonal flu, patients were being diverted to the Glasgow